A rose by any other name...

Shakespeare of course, and definitely right as far as roses are concerned - I love roses as those who come to my flat or house will have realised!

But as far as I'm concerned, as I write this, I think my name is actually important. I answer to lots of different names; different versions of my actual name, different pronounciations, different abbreviations, and I own them all - they all refer to me. I even answer to names that are not mine at all but that people call me - names that are close but not quite my given name. Over the years I've been called Anita, Hannah or Harriet quite a lot, for example. These I also own; when the name is said it refers to me.

Suppose I were to give myself a completely new name though. A completely different name. Would that mean I would leave behind the identity built up over the years, based on my given name? Leave behind all those things I wish I hadn't done, or that I wish I had done, and "start again"?

If so, then it's quite tempting. A new name and a new self.

Somehow, by the time I've got to the end of this post, I've decided the old me would almost certainly pop up - I am, after all, who I am.

And so we are back to Shakespeare again:-)